A Personal Sign From God

The law of sin is at work in my body. What an unhappy person I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? … our Lord Jesus Christ! Romans 7: 23-25.

The glory of the human race is God; but it is the human race which receives the benefit of God’s actions, God’s wisdom and power.

Just as a doctor proves herself in her patients, so God is revealed in human beings. That is why Paul states ‘God has imprisoned all in unbelief, in order to have mercy upon all’. God is speaking here of the human race, which was excluded from immortality as a result of disobedience to God, but then obtained mercy by being adopted through the Son of God.

Without pride or boasting, human beings should truly value created things and their creator, that is, God, the all-powerful. We should live in God’s love, willingly, thankfully; if we do, we will receive a greater glory from God and will go on to become like the one who died for us.

He, like us, was made of frail human flesh, in order to expel sin from human flesh. He came to invite us to become like himself, commissioning us to imitate God, placing us under obedience to the Father so that we might see and know God. He who did this is the Word of God, who lived in and became Son of humankind in order to accustom humans to live in God and to accustom God to live in humanity.

That is why he is a sign of our salvation, Immanuel, born of the Virgin, a sign given us personally by the Lord.

Isaiah makes the same point as St. Paul: ‘Be strong, weak hands and feeble knees; pluck up your courage, faint hearts. Be strong, do not be afraid. See, our God is coming with justice and to settle up; God is personally coming to save us’. It is not by ourselves but by the help of God that we are saved.
Based on Irenaeus Against the Heresies

Dear Son of God, change my heart
You took flesh to redeem me
Dear Son of Mary, change my heart